THE Russians are coming. This season we can expect another lengthy tour by the St Petersburg Ballet Theatre plus a return to London of the theatricalised folklorics of nonagenarian Igor Moiseyev’s eponymous company. But first up is Ballet Grigorovich. For this troupe’s British debut, the veteran choreographer Yuri Grigorovich has remounted his Romeo and Juliet and Spartacus. Both were born at the Bolshoi during his long reign there as artistic director.

FOUNDED in 1994 by the impresario Konstantin Tatchkine, St Petersburg Ballet Theatre is in Oxford at the start of a four-month UK tour. Most of the young dancers are graduates of the renowned Vaga- nova Academy. Their current repertoire consists of four classical ballet staples, including the sparsely attended opening night attraction, Swan Lake.

The fussiness of the Royal Ballet's Art Nouveau production is thrown into sharp relief by the classic version of the touring St Petersburg Ballet Theatre, a good, young, Vaganova-trained company that I saw in Woking. The setting of Gothic medievalism, of swans in pure white plate tutus, of a ball so well lit that you can actually enjoy the dances....

For some time now I’ve been nagged at by a friend to go and see the St Petersburg Ballet Theatre, so last weekend I made my way to Nottingham to see the company in a matinee performance of Swan Lake. I picked the right day to go as one of the dancers was making her debut in the leading role.

The production is almost the Sergeyev one, with appropriate sets and attractive costumes, all easy on the eye and peopled with young enthusiastic dancers, many of whom are Kirov trained. Irina Novikova is a former Kirov soloist who now dances with the St P.B.T. A pretty girl with hair the same colour as Sylvie Guillem’s, she faced that Everest of ballerina roles with total assurance. Possessing a beautiful line combined with a rock solid technique, just the tiniest of errors indicated her debutante status. A lovely serene Odette, only a lack of dramatic awareness clouded her interpretation in the white acts, something that will doubtless develop with experience.

Odile was another matter, this aspect of the role harboured no hidden fears for one so technically accomplished, her fouettes were on the spot with the odd double thrown in for good measure and I couldn’t help thinking that in this act she was beginning to enjoy herself. Vicious and triumphant at the end, happily gloating over the misery she had caused, Novikova discovered the drama that eluded her as Odette.

Her Siegfried was Alexander Zhembrovsky, just twenty years of age and dancing with all the confidence of a veteran. Tall and good-looking, this youthful prince pursued Odette with all the eagerness of besotted youth and was fooled by Odile simply because his ardour was too great to recognise the difference.

All in all they were a splendid couple with a bright future ahead in these roles. They were backed up by a well-disciplined corps de ballet and good soloists in the pas de trois and national dances. My friend was right, this is a company worth going out of the way to see. My only complaint of the afternoon was the audience. A great deal of chattering throughout. When my companion hushed the very noisy women behind us, they reacted with a torrent of abuse. It seems “yob culture” is now encountered everywhere.

Cassandra it is so nice when you see a new principal dancing a role well and it is good to get recommendation of a comapny worth seeing. I have to say i have been disappointed before by companies that tour the regions but when this company is around I will try and go and see them.

Sorry to hear that the audience weren't as appreciative as you. It is so frustrating when other audience members ruin a performance especially when you have paid good money for a ticket.

Rambert have found that they have to send a briefing letter to schools before the students attend performances. The suggested reason being that they are not familiar with theatres and assume they can chat as they would do watching the TV.

SOMETIMES it can be so simple. Irina Kolesnikova, star of St Petersburg Ballet Theatre’s touring production of Swan Lake, has made a decision which throws the entire story into high relief. She portrays both Odette, the princess who is magicked into a swan, and Odile, her wicked impersonator, as if they really are birds.

As with all Russian companies, you go expecting great dancing, not great production values. In this case the designs are at least pretty and cheerful – impressive, too, given that the present tour alternates Nutcracker with three other ballets in theatres of wildly varying scale. What distinguishes the production as a whole is its confident disregard of any development in performing style since the heyday of Tsar Nicholas. When characters converse, they mime without moving their lips. When they enter a room, they waft one hand as if to say "let us walk awhile in this pleasant nook". A clock strikes, and every last party guest turns to look at it.

On tueday 7th January they will be in Edinbugh performing Sleeping Beauty , i'm travelling down as i have tickets for opening night. Just hope all this snow we have just now doesn't block the roads..which happens a lot up here!

I'll be very interested in impressions of this company's Sleeping Beauty. A former employee of mine who has now relocated to Brighton saw them there and was altogether enchanted. (She is a ballet novice, however, and brings no expectations of performance or production quality with her.)

'Classic ballet performed the way it was intended,' is the rather pompous slogan plastered all over St Petersburg Ballet Theatre's literature. And you get the feeling they live and die by it. Granted, we look to Russian ballet for technical brilliance rather than innovation. But when Tchaikovsky, Marius Petipa et al created the arch-classic Sleeping Beauty, the ultimate expression of Russian Imperial ballet ideals, did they really intend their work to be frozen in time for future generations? Did they imagine that, well over a century later, this company would be tirelessly touring the UK with a repertoire of four preserved-in-amber classics? I rather doubt it.

I read what it said in the Sunday Herald and i agree with it in part ,but mostly i don't .I was hoping to have the review done and posted today , but it will be about wednesday/thursday before it appears.Having a bit of trouble with what to include and what to leave out!! was going to go through it scene by scene but i don't think there is enough space , so since this is my first review you will have to patient a bit longer!

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